Cops confirm body of Dutch model was released on Dec 21

KUALA LUMPUR: Police have confirmed that the remains of Dutch model Ivana Esther Smit (pix) was released to the Netherlands Embassy on Dec 21.
"We released Ivana's remains to the Embassy of the Netherlands in Malaysia on Dec 21," a source familiar with the probe team investigating her death told theSun when contacted.
He declined to comment further on the update of the investigations so far.
Last week, the family's lawyer Sébas Diekstra had said Ivana's remains had been returned to her family.
According to an online newsportal, DutchNews, it was reported that Diekstra said the priority now was to have her body brought back to the Netherlands.
"Only then can we ask what additional information about Ivana's death might be available," he was quoted as saying.
The family's lawyers, through a letter on Dec 20, sought Malaysia's permission for them to claim her body and an update on the probe into her death.
In the Dec 7 incident, Ivana,19 was found dead on the balcony of the sixth floor of an apartment building in Jalan Dang Wangi, where she had stayed with an American man and his wife, a Kazakhstan national, on the 20th floor.
Earlier, she was reported to have gone out to an entertainment outlet with the couple.
Ivana, who had dual Dutch and Belgian citizenship, was the second runner-up in the Malaysia Supermodel Search 2014 when she was 15 years old.
Police have recorded statements from 48 people to facilitate investigations into the incident and it remains classified as a sudden death case to date.
Attempts to contact the Netherlands Embassy in Malaysia for comments proved futile at press time as the office is closed for the Christmas holidays.